Process for causing liquid slags and melts to set in a highly porous fashion



. 17, 1935. c. H. SCHOL PROCESS FOR CAUSING LIQUID SLAGS AND MELTS TOSET IN A HIGHLY POROUS FASHION 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed June 14, 1932Inventor C'.J', doll/oz 17, 1935. c. H. SCHOL PROCESS FOR CAUSING LIQUIDSLAGS AND MELTS TO SET IN A HIGHLY POROUS FASHION Filed June 14; 1932 2Sheets-Sheet 2 In ventor: 6317f. Jck OZ,

Patented Dec. 17, 1935 UNITED STATES PROCESS FOR CAUSING LIQUID SLAGSAND DIELTS TO SET IN A HIGHLY POROUS FASHION Carl Heinrich Schol,Allendorf (Dillkreis), Germany Application June 14, 1932, Serial No.617,222 In Germany June 3, 1931 4 Claims.

It is known to swell liquid melts in a troughlike channel of any desiredshape to a highly porous mass by bringing the melt into contact with asmall quantity of warm or cold water so that it cannot sink in the waterbut mixes with the small amount of water and as a result is swollen up,the water for the most part evaporating.

It has been found that the use of narrow trough-like swelling channelsis attended with many disadvantages. In the first place there is alwaysa certain quantity of fine sand produced, whereas it is desirable toobtain as far as possible yield of coarsely granular highly porousmaterial in the form of large lumps. Further, the melt forms athicklayer in the narrow trough and since owing to the very highinsulating effect and small thermal conductivity of the material thisthick layer cannot set rapidly enough in the interior, the individualsmall cells and pores coalesce to form large gas bubbles, so that anundesirable change takes place in the structure of the sponge-like,finely pored froth slag produced at the commencement of the swelling.Owing to the formation of the large gas bubbles the resulting artificialpumice acquires a mussel-like shell-like appearance, as a result ofwhich both the high insulating eifect and the low specific gravity, aswell as the uniform sponge-like appearance, are impaired.

It has now been found that both the yield and the quality of theartificial pumice material can be very considerably improved and a verysatisfactory pressure resisting lava froth can be made from many fluidmelts, and further that the swollen and still viscous mass can bedirectly cast in moulds and in this way ready-prepared structural andinsulating members of all kinds can be made without the use of anybinding means.

This result is secured by the present invention by allowing the liquidmelt to spread out in the form of a thin layer on a suitable support.

If a wide plane surface, for example, is providedwith asmall quantity ofwater or other suitable liquid and the hot liquid melt allowed to fiowthereon, then both the swelling liquid and the liquid melt spread outinto a wide and very thin layer over the plane surface, as a result ofwhich the melt is loosened completely, or almost completely, to a highlyporous, fine celled, dry mass in the form of large pieces. Since theswelling takes place in only a very thin layer, the individual portionsof the melt cannot sink down therein; on the contrary the whole massmust spread itself out over the surface and swell up in the form oflarge pieces. Not much fine sand can be formed in this process. Sincethere is no sudden chilling and the set material still malntains a stateof red heat for some time, the end product acquires much bettertoughness and strength than heretofore.

Furthermore very strong heat radiation takes place in the thin widelayer of melt and setting occurs forthwith, as a result of which thecoalescence of the fine pores and cells to large bubbles of gas isprevented and the maintenance of the spongy fine-celled structure isensured.

The material treated in this way is still sufliciently viscous andplastic for it to be conveyed with the aid of a suitable transportdevice, a

bucket conveyor or the like, and it may be ob- .tained in the form ofhighly porous large lumps which can then be broken up further in aseparate treatment and sorted out into the various granule sizes formarketing.

This still plastic material however'may also be directly cast in mouldsand allowed to cool or temper slowly. In order in this way to make,without any further working up and without the use of any binding means,uniform ready-prepared light structural or insulating bodies of all 25kinds, e. g. blocks, plates, stone-like blocks, planks, boards, tubes,columns and so forth, the aforementioned structural or insulating bodiesmay also be provided with metal insertions as required, in orderconsiderably to raise the tensile and compressive strength of theresulting moulded shapes, the said insertions being placed in the mouldsbefore or during the casting. Of

course very large light blocks may also be cast.

from the material which can then be sawn or otherwise divided up intothe desired shapes.

The porous material made in the aforementioned manner is not hygroscopicand has no capillarity. For many purposes however it is desirable thatthe material is capable of positively repelling water. This may bebrought about by adding some water-repelling substance to the swellingliquid, e. g. a bitumen emulsion (ceresite, heimalol, or the like) sothat this material penetrates directly throughout the whole of theporous mass during the froth formation and is held securely therein.

The accompanying drawings show by way of example devices adapted forcarrying out the process according to this invention.

Figure 1 is a side elevation of a shoot;

Figure 2 is a front elevation of Figure 1, and Figure 3 is a'frontelevation and .part section of a modified form of a device for carryingout the invention using a drum instead of the shoot.

According to Figures 1 and 2 a downwardly bent wide shoot a is used forcarrying out the new process; the said shoot widens out from the outflowchannel b and is somewhat inclined so that both the water supply throughthe hollow body 0 as well as the melt issuing from the channel b canspread out in a thin layer. The shoot is capable of swivelling about thepoint d near the top so that its gradient may be accurately regulatedeach time, or even in the course of operation, and can be adjusted asdesired, e. g. by means of the tie bar 7. Underneath the bent shoot athere is a pan or receptacle e for catching the water; the thin layer ofwater flowing along with the slag material is intercepted in thereceptacle 6 and collected for purposes of re-use. Since the swollenporous plastic mass, still in the incandescent state, falls from thefront of the bent shoot a, whilst the remainder of the thin water layerclinging to the wide surface flows downwardly to the collector e, acomplete separation of the water from the slag froth takes place, sothat the latter can be obtained perfectly dry.

According to Figure 3 a slowly rotating cylinder g is used for carryingout the said process. Both the swelling liquid as well as the melt to beswollen spread out over the wide exterior surface of the cylinder, theresult being that the melt is loosened in the same way as describedabove. Here also the swollen and still viscous mass falls off at thefront of the cylinder whilst the rest of the th'n water layer clings tothe slowly rotating drum surface and is carried along to the lowestpoint.

The melt is here again supplied by the outflow channel 1), Whilst thewater is distributed as uniformly as possible over the surface of thecylinder by means of a pipe is situated parallel to the axis of thecylinder and having a plurality of openings or nozzles. In order toprevent the water or the melt from flowing 01f at the sides,

each end of the cylinder 9 may be provided with retaining discs, shownin dotted lines in the accompanying drawings.

What I claim is:

1. A method of making a solid porous product from molten slags and meltsconsisting in applying a thin layer of swelling liquid to a wide smootheven supporting surface and spreading out the hot fluid melt in a thinlayer on said layer of swelling liquid.

2. A method of making a solid porous product from molten slags and meltsconsisting in causing a thin layer of swelling liquid to flow along awide smooth even supporting surface, feeding the hot fluid melt in athin layer on to said layer of swelling liquid in the direction of flowof the latter, and separating the-resulting porous semisolid productfrom the stream of swelling liquid.

3. A method of making a water-repelling solid porous product from moltenslags and melts consisting in supplying a swelling liquid in smallquantity on to a wide smooth surface said swelling liquid containing abitumen emulsion and guiding a stream of melt on to the swelling liquidon said surface, whereby said swelling liquid and the liquid melt spreadout into a very wide thin layer and the melt becomes loosened to ahighly porous fine celled mass without gas bubbles and havingwater-repelling properties.

4. A method of making a water-repelling solid porous product from moltenslags and melts consisting in supplying in small quantity on to a widesmooth surface a swelling liquid containing water-repelling material,and guiding a stream of melt on to the swelling liquid on said surface,whereby said swelling liquid and the liquid melt spread out into a verywide thin layer and the melt is swollen up to a porous product withwater-repelling properties, a bitumen emulsion being used as saidwater-repelling material.

CARL HEINRICH SCHOL.

